ABSTRACT
T'lIE Shield. For the chase as for war, the Cretans had defensive weapons. The chief was a great shield.1 None has been preserved, not even in part. For this great shield was not made of metal, or it would have been too heavy to carry. It was made of hide, and on a relief vase (Fig. 27) it terminates in an appendage, the tail of the animal. If it was not considered sufficient to take any skin and shape it roughly, an ox-hide was stretched on a wooden frame so as to retain its natural shape. Thus a gigantic piece of armour was obtained, a wall of hide, allowing nothing to show but the head and feet. When the Greek epic poets sang the paladins of old time they showed them, as does the Cretan vase, hidden by their shield up to the neck; but one can understand that none but Aias had the strength to wield a panel of six ox-hides, over 260 pounds in weight.
